What They'll Do On Their Summer Vacations

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Good morning! With many Americans heading for vacation this month, the candidates are doing their part to seem like ordinary citizens and do the same! Their plans, plus why pessimists are backing Barack Obama, a new Veepstakes entry and Kathy Hilton weighing in on John McCain's "Celebrity" ad featuring her daughter. It's all after the jump!

Good morning! With many Americans heading for vacation this month, the candidates are doing their part to seem like ordinary citizens and do the same! Their plans, plus why pessimists are backing Barack Obama, a new Veepstakes entry and Kathy Hilton weighing in on John McCain's "Celebrity" ad featuring her daughter. It's all after the jump!

Oh, Those Summer Nights! Although vacation videos have long been opposition fodder, Obama and Mcain are biting the bullet and taking a break this month anyway. McCain's headed to his "compound" in Arizona for a little R&R, while Obama and his family are off to visit family and beaches in Hawaii. Ladies, prepare yourself for another round of shirtless Obama photos!

McCain's Underdog? Sources have confirmed that the newest (and most nationally unknown) entry in the McCain Veepstakes is Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor. Although he's unknown outside of Virginia, McCain's camp would be counting on Cantor to counter support for potential Obama VP Tim Kaine, who happens to be the governor of Virginia. Cantor is also expected to reel in more business support, arch-conservatives and fellow Jewish voters. That's an awful big ask for a virtual unknown.

Pessimists for Obama Obama tends to get a lot of support from a variety of minority groups, and now he could rake in yet another key constituency—pessimists. Even among low-income voters that don't think the Presidential race will affect their finances in the least Obama is leading in the polls. Actually, we might want to call those people realists.

Kathy Hilton On "Celebrity" Kathy Hilton might not be the biggest supporter of John McCain, given that she and her husband haven't been bundling donations for him, but they did give the maximum individual contributions allowed by law. So they're a little peeved at John McCain's ad mocking their daughter. Says Kathy:

"It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs."

That's what a lot of people said about The Simple Life and Paris's debut album!

Michigan, Florida And Obama Although his surrogates walked into a D.C. hotel two short months ago and successfully advocated against seating full delegations from Michigan and Florida, Obama has quietly changed his mind. He's now asking the Democratic National Committee to seat both delegations in full at the end of the month. They're likely to agree despite their worries that Michigan and Florida will set their 2012 primaries for February 2009.

Do you think that Florida and Michigan should be "punished"? Do you think this election will have any effect on your finances? And should McCain give the Hiltons their money back?